Letter to the Editor: More Iowans need to learn Chinese

While I couldn't agree more with the Register's editorials trumpeting the benefits of increased relations between Iowa and China ("Iowa Should Build Strong Ties With China" and "Celebrating 30 Years of Citizen Diplomacy With China," March 11), both the editorial board and Will Zhang glossed over one glaring disadvantage: Most Iowans cannot speak, read or write Mandarin Chinese. Since 1990, every middle and high school student in China has been taught enough English to write (and often speak) fluently.

Last year, I taught more than 2,000 who conversed with me on a weekly basis. They were all 14 years old.

Yet here in Iowa, foreign language acquisition is typically put off until high school - and even then, the vast majority of students are offered a choice between Spanish and French. Des Moines students are lucky to have extra options provided by Central Campus, but how many voluntarily learn what the U.S. Department of State has labeled the most difficult language for English speakers to acquire?

While China's youngest generations will have no difficulty forging ties with Iowa, our future politicians and businesspeople will have no linguistic or cultural knowledge to build on in return. If the state wants to get serious about promoting economic relations with the world's most populous country, it would be advantageous to start learning the lingo.

(And you're never too old to learn: Beginning and intermediate Chinese language courses are taught every Sunday afternoon at Johnston High School.)

-Kirsten Jacobsen, Des Moines

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Letter to the Editor: More Iowans need to learn Chinese

While I couldn't agree more with the Register's editorials trumpeting the benefits of increased relations between Iowa and China ('Iowa Should Build Strong Ties With China' and 'Celebrating 30 Years